The country is named for "The Savior" . There has
been a Civil war since 1979.

The country was conquered by Spaniards who arrived in 1524
to find an Aztec related kingdom of the Pipil people called Cuzcatlan.
They conquered it in 1527. As a colony it was ruled as part of
the province of Guatemala.

At independence in 1821 it was part of the Mexican Empire
and then part of the Central American Federation of the United
Provinces. This split up in 1840 when it became an independent
republic.

The Spanish method of settlement was based on the economic
structures found in Spain: large baronial landowners and serf-like
peasants who in El Salvador were the original inhabitants.

This structure has persisted into the present day, though
it is clearly preventing economic development. The result is
that the mass of the people feel powerless, and cannot form new
small businesses, co-operatives or trade unions if the owners
feel that they will reduce their control over the situation.
It is not surprising that a guerrilla war broke out in 1979 and
has been going on ever since.

El Salvador has been plagued with political violence throughout
its history and there has been a series of military dictatorships
and one party states. A coup in 1979, which was a reaction to
the fall of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, led to the civil war.
The United States supported the coup leaders, who to the outside
world represented themselves as moderate reformers, but in practice
were the agents of the oligarchy and the organisers of Death Squads
designed to intimidate the poor into not rebelling. To the United
States government, obsessed with the Cold War, these thugs were
seen as opponents of Communism.

The political situation of the country is the most extreme
example of those found through most of Central America. A small
group of families are said to control the country, mainly through
their control of the security forces, and access to American
aid. The elected government is suspected of being a facade for
these real rulers.

In elections in March 1989 the extreme right wing won but
more than 50% of registered voters did not vote. And indeed,
although 1.4 million were registered, 500 thousand are said to
have been left off the voters' roll. The results were therefore
not accepted by the guerrillas as a fair election. (It is true
that the left wing parties called for a boycott and were therefore
under-represented but they were threatened by death squads if they ran for election).

The best known victim of the assassination squads was Archbishop
Oscar
Romero, who preached in favor of human rights. He was shot
down while conducting Mass in a hospital chapel.

The winning party, ARENA, (Allianza National) had among its
leadership people such as the late Roberto d'Aubuisson suspected
of organizing death squads in the past and perhaps still doing
so.

The United States spokesmen declared that they did not approve
of the result, but continued to send the new government military
aid, just the same.

The civil war seems likely to continue until the basic causes
- land ownership and power by the ruling aristocracy - are changed.
But the war makes it difficult to change these. Presumably the
United States government would never accept a victory by the
guerrillas and would treat them as it did the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua. Until a change occurs the official political system
will be a sham. In early 1991 elections allowed some of the leftwing
parties to enter the parliament, which gives some hope for an
end to the fighting. By September 1991 there was talk of reconciliation.
Time will tell whether this actually occurs.

In November 1993 there were reports of renewed death squad
activity when members of the left wing party were killed.

UN supervised elections in March 1994 were alleged to be corrupt
as many potential voters were left off the rolls. Ballot box
stuffing was alleged as well as personation. Thus the Extreme
Right victory is questionable. ARENA, the National Republican
Alliance, (satirically named the National Psychopathic Alliance
by British comedians) probably represents mainly the owners and
their US backers.

The election system seems to be designed to prevent people
from voting. Thus even those on the register did not vote at
the place nearest their homes but at a place designated by alphabetical
order of names. The result cannot be regarded as a free and fair
election.

More recent elections have seen the election of a "moderate"
left government. Will this represent the ordinary people better?
Time will tell.

Among problems faced by the new moderate president - a former
opposition journalist - are: the deportation from the US (mainly
Los Angeles) of gang members without US citizenship who then
become criminals in the "home country" they scarcely
know. The drug smuggling gangs from Mexico are also active in
the country and may well have corrupted most of the institutions
of the country, never strong to start with.

The main income of the country has been the remittances of
the emigrated people, perhaps as many as 50% of the people living
in the country. This has reduced since the 2008 financial catastrophe.

The economy remains at an early stage of development with
plantations of tropical crops (coffee) the main economic activity.
These are badly affected by the war. Foreign aid, from the United
States was probably the main source of income for the government,
implying that the government was more the agent of the United
States than an independent power. But this aid went mostly into
arms. Remittances have been the second most important source
of money and as US military aid has reduced following the peace
agreement are now the largest sector.